Michael Emerson

After graduating from Drake University with a major in Theater and a minor in Art, Michael Emerson moved to New York, forgot about acting and landed a job in magazine illustration. He later followed a romance to Florida, where he began acting again and supported himself with a variety of occupations, including directing and teaching. He acted professionally in the south for many years before entering the MFA Program at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival (University of Alabama). After graduating, he once again moved to New York as a struggling actor and found a break in Moises Kaufman's Off-Broadway production of Gross Indecency.

On Broadway Emerson appeared in Hedda Gabler and The Iceman Cometh. His television credits include guest starring roles on The Practice, in which he won an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for his performance as William Hinks, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Without a Trace, The X-Files and The District. He also starred in HBO's The Laramie Project.

On the big screen he appeared in such films as Saw, The Legend of Zorro, Playing by Heart, The Imposters, Jumping off Bridges and Straight-Jacket.

His hobbies include Shakespeare, the Greeks, verse, black-and-white films, black-and-white drawings, bluegrass, world crafts and ghost stories. He is a long-time supporter of the charities that are connected to the Theater community -- Actors Fund, Broadway Cares, Gay Men's Health Crisis and Off-Off Broadway, as well as publicly-supported radio stations and Habitat.